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Dale Carnegie wrote a book entitled, “How To Win Friends and Influence People”. At one point, this book was the second largest selling book of all time, second only to The Bible. In writing that book, Carnegie developed an acute understanding of human nature and identified two key money making principles that have stood the test of time. They are, “Everyone’s favorite subject is themselves” and “The sweetest sound to anyone’s ears, is the sound of their own name”. We see these principles in action everyday of our life. People genuinely enjoy talking about themselves and people love to hear their own name called out.

As a sales professional, consider the importance of remembering a person’s name. How many times has it happened to you where you were introduced to someone and no sooner does the handshake break, the name drops to the floor? We find ourselves a few minutes into the conversation not listening to a word these people are telling us because we’re trying to remember there name! Has that ever happened to you? It’s happened to everyone at some point in time.

Let’s examine what happened. According to psychologists, the reason that happens is our minds are so amazingly fast we are usually thinking two or three steps ahead of ourselves. When someone is telling you his or her name, your mind is thinking about the question your going to ask or how you may be able to filter into the conversation what you do for a living. Reason being you may be looking at them as a potential prospect or eventual client. So we are not really listening to them when they’re telling us their name.

Short Term Solution:

Step 1. Use the acronym CAR and say it to yourself for twenty-one days every time you’re about to meet someone. It stands for “Care About Remembering”. From a subliminal standpoint it will force you to concentrate and focus on remembering the individual’s name of whom you are being introduced to.

Step 2.Repeat the person’s first and last name back to them like you didn’t hear it. This will commonly force someone to say their name again which allows you to hear the name three times on an introduction, thus, helping you to remember it.

Step 3. Use the name during conversation and upon leaving to help reinforce your short-term retention of that person’s name.

Remember, as sales professionals you’ll never get a second chance at making a good first impression. This is where relationships are built, people don’t care how much you know, until they first know how much you care and remember about them. It all starts with remembering someone’s name and your ability to use it during conversation. Give yourself twenty-one days to develop this as a habit using these three memory amplifiers. Along with the right attitude and belief in your newfound ability for remembering names, you will see a noticeable difference.